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Key drivers of job satisfaction
After employees indicated their level of satisfaction, employees were asked to consider the level of importance of the same 7 aspects of their employment.
Cognitive testing revealed that ranking all 7 aspects was difficult and it was much easier and valid to restrict this assessment to the 3 most important aspects, ranked from 1 to 3. A rank of 1 indicated that the respondent considered that aspect to be the most important to them when considering their overall job satisfaction.
Figure 6.1 demonstrates the proportion of employees that selected an aspect as the most important (i.e. the highest ranked aspect).
Further analysis could take account of the 3 aspects that employees considered to be important.
Flexibility to balance work and non-work commitments was considered to be the most important aspect of employment for almost one-third (32%) of employees when considering their overall satisfaction with their current job.
A higher proportion of female employees (37%) considered the flexibility to balance work and non-work commitments to be the most important aspect of employment, compared to males (26%).
The total pay received by employees was the fourth highest ranked aspects of employment reported by employees. A higher proportion of males (around 18%) considered total pay to be the most important aspect of their job compared to female employees (12%).
This analysis can be run by a variety of employment characteristics and demographics, such as level of household income.
Source: AWRS 2014, Employee survey.
Base = 7505 respondents reported their gender and also ranked the aspects of job satisfaction by importance.
Note: Respondents by gender, who indicated that a specific item was ranked '1'.
Regardless of the industry employees worked in, the most important aspect of determining employee satisfaction with their current job was the flexibility to balance work and non-work commitments, as presented in Table 6.3.
The work itself was considered the most important aspect of employment for 29% of employees in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services industry. In addition, approximately one-quarter of all employees in the Education and Training, Health Care and Social Assistance, and Other Services industries also considered the work itself to be the most important aspect of their current job.
More than 1 in 5 employees in the Mining, Construction and the Rental, Hiring and Real Estate services industries considered their total pay to be the most important aspect of their employment.
| The flexibility to balance work and non-work commitments (%) | The freedom to decide how to do your own work (%) | Your say about what happens in your job (%) | The total pay (%) | The job security (%) | The work itself (%) | The hours worked (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All industries | 32.2 | 9.0 | 3.7 | 14.3 | 16.1 | 19.5 | 5.2 |
| Mining | 32.4 | 9.6 | 1.9 | 21.3 | 15.1 | 14.7 | 4.8 |
| Manufacturing | 28.2 | 9.4 | 3.6 | 14.7 | 21.9 | 16.7 | 5.5 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 32.7 | 9.8 | 4.6 | 13.1 | 19.0 | 15.7 | 5.3 |
| Construction | 24.5 | 9.6 | 4.0 | 20.1 | 21.7 | 14.8 | 5.3 |
| Wholesale trade | 28.5 | 9.4 | 4.7 | 19.1 | 19.1 | 14.4 | 4.5 |
| Retail trade | 29.4 | 8.3 | 4.0 | 17.1 | 18.4 | 15.0 | 7.8 |
| Accommodation and food services | 37.0 | 8.8 | 2.8 | 15.2 | 12.5 | 15.3 | 8.5 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 32.2 | 9.6 | 4.1 | 14.9 | 19.6 | 16.3 | 3.1 |
| Information media & telecommunications | 39.0 | 10.3 | 1.3 | 15.5 | 9.9 | 22.1 | 1.8 |
| Financial and insurance services | 36.2 | 8.2 | 3.0 | 12.0 | 17.4 | 17.7 | 5.4 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | 32.0 | 11.1 | 2.9 | 20.9 | 14.4 | 14.4 | 3.7 |
| Professional, scientific & technical services | 38.3 | 5.5 | 1.8 | 8.6 | 12.3 | 29.1 | 4.6 |
| Administrative and support services | 32.2 | 14.1 | 5.3 | 13.6 | 11.8 | 18.6 | 4.3 |
| Public administration and safety | 29.7 | 9.0 | 4.4 | 12.2 | 21.3 | 19.8 | 3.2 |
| Education and training | 33.9 | 11.1 | 3.7 | 11.9 | 9.8 | 24.6 | 5.0 |
| Health care and social assistance | 33.9 | 7.4 | 3.9 | 10.4 | 14.6 | 25.1 | 4.8 |
| Arts and recreation services | 33.7 | 7.9 | 4.6 | 13.4 | 13.4 | 22.8 | 3.9 |
| Other services | 31.8 | 8.1 | 4.9 | 12.5 | 16.1 | 24.5 | 2.1 |
Source: AWRS 2014, Employee survey and Enterprise Characteristics (Recruitment screener) survey.
Base = 7525 employees who provided a response and excludes 358 employees who did not provide a response.
Proportions shaded in orange denote relative standard errors greater than or equal to 50 and should be treated as indicative only.
Updated time
Last updated
14 February 2016
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